Page 20 of Shattered Illusion

“Basically,” he chuckles, flicking to the next picture. “This one here is your transmutation rune, and it’s on your right thigh. There’s no telling if you’ll only shift into one thing, or if it’ll be limitless.” The rune looks like something you’d see in ancient hieroglyphics of a person from back in that time. Around it are three separate lines, almost tracing the design and getting bigger with each one.

“So how do we find out?” As nervous as I am at what all I can do, anticipation is bubbling inside me like a witch’s cauldron set over an open flame. Maybe I can turn myself into a dragon and give that overgrown rock bird a run for his money in the skies.

“Practice. That’s the only way you’ll master any of these.”

“Well, what the hell are we waiting for?”

“I love your enthusiasm, sunshine. But it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. I have us booked into a magical containment room in case something goes awry.”

Tomorrow. I can wait that long. Hopefully.

“So I’ll leave you to it tonight. I’m going to go study these and figure out a game plan for tomorrow. And I’ll be here around the same time. We are booked into the magical containment room at one-fifteen.”

“Okay, sounds good. Thank you, Thaddy. For taking time during your weekend to help me. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem, Bailey. If you need me, my room is across the hall. The door directly in front of yours is Jasper’s, and the one just to the left of it is mine.”

Thaddeus leaves after that, and I finally give myself a chance to get acclimated to my new apartment. I’ve been here for twenty-four hours now, and I still have yet to step foot into the bedroom. Tonight, I’ll make sure to actually sleepinmy bed.

After grabbing my bags from the bedroom floor, I head right across the small hall. My bags slip through my fingers, and agasp falls from my lips at the sight. It’s not like any bedroom I’ve ever seen before.

It’s round. Almost like it’s part of one of the turrets that make up the expanse of the castle. A king-sized bed is dead center with deep purple sheets, a black comforter, and more pillows than I’d ever need in this lifetime. Around the curvature of the walls, floor-to-ceiling windows give me a view of the forest surrounding the castle and the grounds below. Those same curtains from out in the living area hang in intervals, ready to shut out the world.

Close to the main door of the room is a chest of drawers with another door right next to it. My first guess is that it would be the closet, which works for me. There’s also a small desk and chair pushed up against one of the windows with a wrapped package sitting on top.

I all but abandon my bags next to the dresser and skip over to the desk, wondering what’s inside the box. It almost feels like Christmas. Which is, what? Two days away? Three? It’s almost like my days are blending together, and I have no clue what date it is anymore. Plus, I haven’t seen any signs of the supes celebrating the holiday. Guess that’s just another facet of being human I’ll have to give up.

The paper tears apart easily with my fingers, and the box pops open, revealing a sticky note attached to the screen of a tablet, a brand new black leather backpack, a multitude of pens and pencils, and a couple of notebooks. Everything I need to start my first day of classes on Monday.

Whoever went to all this trouble is super sweet.

Let’s just hope I don’t make an ass out of myself on my first day of class.

After finally getting around to putting all of my stuff away—which only took me about an hour—I check out what they provided in my kitchen. A few of the white cabinets are jam-packed with different snack foods: chips, muffins, crackers, basically anything I want to snack on. Hence the name. Another cabinet has plates, bowls, glass cups, pots and pans, and coffee cups. I squeal in excitement when I see a travel mug tucked away in the corner. Now, I’ll be able to take Mr. Tall, Dark, and Steamy with me on the go. Never again will he have to be left behind or thrown out. That’s definitely going in the win category.

The refrigerator is stacked to the gills with water, soda, coffee creamer, all the condiments I could need, lunch meat, and some vegetables in the crisper drawer. Up in the freezer are quick meal options, something simple to throw into the microwave or oven. Those will be gone pretty quickly if I want to avoid the dining hall. Next to the fridge is another long cabinet, the height matching that of the appliance. Popping it open, I immediately know it’s the pantry. Breads, baking goods, a few different types of coffee grounds. Everything I could need and more.

At this rate, I’ll never have to show my face to the other students here besides in the class. Maybe them setting me up in the faculty wing wasn’t such a bad idea.

After gorgingmyself on snacks last night, I passed out. In my bed. And it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Which isn’t saying much. But hey, no more couch sleeping for this girl. Not after how well I slept last night. And I may have originally thought the couch was comfortable, but it definitely has nothing on that mattress. You could tell the second you laid down that it wasn’t one of those cheap ones with the bed springs digging into your back. It was high quality. And dare I say, magical. There is one thing I know for sure. Wherever I end up after the academy, I’ll be investing in one of those for my own house.

Before conking out, I remembered to set an alarm to avoid another day like yesterday. Once it went off, I got up, showered, dressed, and made myself coffee. There may have been some snacking along the way, too, but hey, a girl’s gotta eat, right?

I’m just lacing up my red Vans and throwing my hair in a messy bun when I hear the door across the hall shut. This time, Thaddeus is threat-free when he knocks on the door at 1:00 p.m. sharp. He’s a punctual one, I’ll tell you what.

“Hey, Thaddy!” I exclaim as I pull the door open.

Shock colors his features for a mere moment before a smile lights up his face. “Afternoon, Bailey. You ready to go?”

“Yep!” I pop the P. “What’s the plan, Stan?” Thaddeus backs away from the door, and I shove into the hallway, closing the door behind me.

At this time of day, I expected professors to be coming and going, but the corridor is silent. Which probably means the professors are in their classrooms getting ready for tomorrow. Or they’re not even on the grounds.

“Stan?” His eyebrows pinch together in the cutest look of confusion.

“Human saying.” I wave his words away.

“Ahh, okay.” He nods his head as we start down the hallway. “There’s a few we’ll work on today. Nothing hard. Just basic ones to get you by until we can meet again. But with you having Transmutation class tomorrow, I figured we should try working on that, too. That’ll be the hardest one out of the bunch.”

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